Fun and games lightens winter

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Yukoners welcome winter. Yukoners even look forward to winter. Yukoners celebrate winter's cultural and entertainment events with an enthusiasm unknown in the provinces to the south. The months of snow and cold provide the residents of the territory an opportunity to acknowledge their rich and diverse demography with numerous festivals and other activities in the months leading up to spring.

First Nations entertainers are highlighted everywhere. One of the most anticipated events is the Yukon Frostbite Music Festival in Whitehorse. Average attendance for the February event is around 900, with folks coming from Alaska, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and other points outside Whitehorse.

Featured performers this year included Leela Gilday, who took home three awards from the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards held in Toronto. "Leela won best female artist, best folk album, and best songwriter and we're really excited that she could attend," said John Layman, president of the committee that hosts the annual festival. Gilday is from the small North Slavey community in Deline, nestled on the shore of Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories.

Yukon Jack is a local Aboriginal band that Layman said was also a welcome addition to this year's entertainment line-up. "This band is one of the Territory's hardest working groups. Clint Carpentier, who writes a lot of their material, and the rest of the band have been entertaining throughout Yukon for many years, playing their unique brand of country music," he said. The group performs at festivals and entertains at lounges and other venues when non-musical events bring visitors and residents together to celebrate.

Copper Tom Tom is a rock band but country and folk influences are present, said Layman. The group is headed by Stew Breithaup who has been on the Yukon music scene for some time. Breithaup explained the unique name of the group. "My wife Irene is a member of White River First Nation, located in Beaver Creek, the most westerly community in Canada.

"Her family name is Tom Tom, and Copper Jack was her great-grandfather," Stew Breithaup said. Irene plays percussion in the band and has made her own traditional drum which she incorporates into the music.

"Fellow band member Cindy James is a member of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation and is an amazing singer," he continued. Breithaup, a former Anglican priest, writes much of the group's music in English, which reaches most of their audiences, and therefore educates them on the uniqueness of the area and the issues which influence the residents, especially First Nations people. "But Irene is working on a song or two in her native Tutchone language, with the help of her mother who speaks fluently," he said. Land claims and other issues are constantly in the news for Yukon residents, but there is a spiritual depth to the music as well. "Relationships are front and centre in our closely knit smaller communities and we sing about the Elders and the children, too," he said.

John Layman points out that the area has a vibrant music scene and lots of local talent. "Many of those attending music festivals and other events come to learn and share at workshops as well as entertain or listen," he explains. The Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous is held a few days following the Frostbite Festival and has everything the residents could desire: Cancan dancers, dog sled races, an international air show, the Cabin Fever Cabaret, and even a hairy leg contest-for ladies only.

In March, Dawson City celebrates the Thaw-di-Gras Spring Carnival, and in April they celebrate the International Film Festival.

North America's most northerly film festival features local people and natural settings, and is hosted by the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture. The non-profit group fosters the development of art and photography with other activities throughout the year, including a drum-making workshop and other cultural offerings at the Ancent Voices River Camp.

April 13 to 20, Yukoners again found reason to celebrate when the trumpeter swans returned to Marsh Lake south of Whitehorse at the height of their migration. First Nations have been celebrating the event for years as part of their yearly round of natural events, and it has now become a regular celebration for all residents.

Earlier in the winter, the eyes of the world were on the territory when the twentieth Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race saw 18 dog teams complete the 1,000 miles between Whitehorse and Fairbanks, Ala. This gruelling test of man and beast recreates how lives depended on dog teams and on the mushers' own Arctic survival skills in days gone by. Hans Gatt of Atlin, B.C., won the first prize of $30,000 for the second year in a row, battling temperatures of minus 45 degrees.

"These festivals and activities are major events in our communities," said John Layman. "At the end of a long winter, when we're all experiencing a little cabin fever, we are energized by them. We know spring can't be far behind."